Crumbling Earth
by Kelectra
Summary: Was supposed to have been a SasuSaku, but turned more into a Sakura introspective that I thought was fitting considering the current manga. Involves Sasuke, a battle field, and an unconscious Naruto.


A/N: Uh...so yeah it's been a while, but this time I _have_ been working on the Hurricane and the Thunderstorm I have... really. It's just that I've had this floating around on my computer for almost a year now and I figured I'd just post it already before the manga reveals anymore.

I almost even changed the ending to include showing Mandara as Team Taka's escape route, but I think I liked it just the way it was.

~As always Enjoy

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The earth rumbled and collapsed beneath her, her chakra filled fist reshaping the face of the immediate landscape. She turned to glare furiously at the red eyes glowering fiercely back. Those accursed, hateful, beautiful eyes that she had known for half her life; eyes that at the moment, she wished she would never see again. He shifted his stance to a relaxed one, she noted, realizing at once the slight he was giving her. He did not consider her a significant threat.

Sakura scowled at the small gesture, but was pleased to see that he hadn't removed his hand from the sword. At least he was still a little wary of her. She took a moment to chance a glance backward and turned her raging thoughts to her orange clad team mate lying prone behind her, her faithful determined team mate, her loyal friend. She'd had to practically fight her way through half the battle field just to reach him, but she would have fought through all of the Five Ninja Nations just to make sure he was safe, it was the least she could do.

Sakura couldn't tell from where she was standing, but she thought it looked like he was breathing. She hoped he was, and she had to keep telling herself, that all the blood covering him wasn't his.

She caught the movement belatedly, which left her less than seconds to shield herself before the blow landed, sending her flying backward into the ground. She twisted and braced against the impact, noting he'd hit her with the hilt of his sword. She grimaced at the pain in her face, and moved to stand and stare wrathfully. It was his wordless way of telling her to pay attention.

She pushed away the realization that if he so chose, he could make her heart stop beating before her mind registered she was dead. The irony of the situation didn't escape her, but she grounded her feet and squared her shoulders, facing him determinedly.

"Sasuke."

She spat it like a curse. The air thickened with smoke, but neither of them moved. Team seven lined all in a row, Sakura in the center, the mediator, always in-between. Except this man before her was no longer a member of Team seven, no longer a comrade or a friend, this stranger standing before her was nothing more than a waste of all their efforts and for Naruto's sake, Sakura decided, she would take away the reason for his suffering. All their suffering.

Somewhere off to her right, the battle was raging. The clash of weapons and jutsu could be heard. Sakura forced down the feelings of loss and hurt as she watched Sasuke, folding away the memories of the beautiful boy she loved as a child. She hid him under the image she burned into her mind now, of the ruthless killer, wearing the cloak of his equally damned brother. She wanted to destroy him as she watched the hated cloak swirl in the wind, those red clouds wrapped in darkness, a symbol that represented the people who wanted to hurt the one person who believed in him the most.

She kept Naruto in the forefront of her thoughts; to let that image falter would be to let Sasuke win, she spoke it like a mantra. She focused desperately on her anger instead of every other fiber of her being that didn't have the heart to hurt him. She took a deep breath and let her mind go blank, there was only Naruto that she needed to protect. She tapped the heel of her foot into the ground, and a fissure cracked open beneath her opponent. If she could only restrict his movements.

He leapt out of the way easily and chuckled amusedly at her attempt to make the earth swallow him. She wanted to smash the look into his face.

"Is that the best you can do, Sakura." It was a mild taunt, he was toying with her, and she knew it.

She chanced another glance behind her, checking for that hopeful rise and fall of her team-mate's chest.

Sasuke was in front of her before she could react, an almost angry, accusatory look in his eyes, "you shouldn't look away from your opponent, Sakura."

His voice was deep and dangerous and she did all she could to block out the memories of him whispering her name, on a dark lonely night that involved a cold bench. All she could do was let her body absorb the blow. She was able to skid backward up right on her feet, instead of careening into the line of boulders behind her, determined not to let him knock her down. She became mindful of the bruise she could already feel forming in her stomach and was surprised to feel blood run from her forehead, she hadn't even seen him pull the sword.

She charged at him then, matching his fury with her own, trading blow for blow. If she could wear him down, just a little, maybe she had a chance. She increased the intensity of her strikes, making him have to avoid instead of block, and with every evasion, she grew to hate the Sharingan more and more. He moved his head seconds from the place her foot was about to connect to, a blow that was intended to crush his skull. If he didn't know it before, he knew it now. Sakura was trying to kill him.

He retreated a distance away from her, not even looking winded, as she tried to catch her breath. All she had to do was hit him, at least once, and everything would be over.

The wind whipped up the dust around her, making it hard to see but through the haze she was certain that there was someone else at the periphery of the battle. She squinted, what was that woman doing? Sakura watched as the shadowy form moved cautiously forward and then kneel in the dust and rubble, the flaming red of her hair swirling in the wind. Time slowed, the figure slowly, lowered its head over her unconscious blonde team-mate. Sakura's body moved instinctively.

A low growl reached her ears, and she felt rather than saw Sasuke move. There was only one thought in her mind as the panic welled up, "I can't fail again."

A loud clash of metal rang out then, and Sakura saw with relief over her shoulder green spandex and pale skin. Sai stood poised over her protectively, blocking Sasuke's sword with that of his own, Lee was behind him holding his arm back, so that the chidori laced blade could not slice through Sai's guard.

"Go to him Sakura-san," Lee flashed her a giant smile. She had never been so grateful to see the green beast. If anyone could surpass Sasuke in speed it was Lee. The Uchiha made a guttural noise, the only warning the Konoha-nin received before lightning flowed out of every pore of his body. They'd leapt clear just in time and Sakura had not halted in her movement before she was racing forward toward her boisterous friend.

"Naruto!" She heard another clash erupt behind her. Sasuke was not holding back anymore. She noted that the Red haired girl still hovered over Naruto, and Sakura surged chakra to her fist.

She was on top of the woman within seconds.

"Get away from him!" it came out as a fierce snarl, and the girl with widened eyes darted backward to a safe distance away. Sakura poised herself between the two, standing rigidly over Naruto. She could tell now that he was breathing, and relief washed over her in waves as he made a pained moan and his eyes flickered.

"What did you do to him," Sakura all but hissed, curling her fingers into fists. The woman shifted into a defensive position, pushing her glasses higher onto her nose.

"We need to take him in alive," She sneered, seeming pleased at her opponent's rising anger.

"I won't let you take him."

Her gloved hand burned green, and Sakura charged, she saw with some satisfaction the girl's eyes widen in surprise, but instead of feeling the crunching of bone and the bruising of flesh her fist met metal and the resounding clash was deafening.

"Suigetsu!" The woman's eyes rounded in surprise and Sakura felt herself pushed back by the broadside of a rather large sword.

"Stay behind me Karin." She heard the new arrival say. "I'd rather not have to deal with Sasuke if you died."

Sakura faltered for a moment as the implication of his words sunk in. The woman named Karin gave a smug smile.

"Of course Sasuke-kun would be upset. I'm important to him!" She tossed her head back, pushing up her glasses further still. Suigetsu just rolled his eyes.

"Keh, if it were up to me, I'd just let you die."

" Like I would!" Karin screeched, "You trying to make me look weak in front of Sasuke-kun?"

Sakura cringed inwardly, but she supposed it wouldn't matter who Sasuke favored when he was dead. She could hear the fight behind her growing more ferocious, as something exploded somewhere to the left of her; the heat and flames glowed and warmed her back.

Sakura ground her teeth and tugged on the sword.

Suigetsu stumbled forward, caught off balance by her sudden movement and Sakura's chakra charged fist collided with his head. Sploosh! His face dematerialized into a quivering puddle.

Sakura backed away in surprise, "Huh? A water clone?"

"Heh, not quite," the headless body stumbled and pulled the huge sword onto its shoulder before its head re-solidified with a sneer. Suigetsu rubbed his face, "man that almost hurt. You pack quite the punch."

Sakura tried to keep her annoyance in check, all these delays did was waste her time and she was quickly losing patience. She took the moment to check her chakra reserves; if she finished the battle quickly she'd still have enough to heal everyone, serious injuries anyway.

She watched as the foreign kunoichi retreated farther back and eyed Naruto craftily and Sakura bristled and the unveiled intention. She strategically kept herself between her opponents and her unconscious team mate. Like hell she was going to let these criminals take her friend.

Sakura shifted as she watched the Mist-nin prepare his attack. Suigetsu launched himself into the air, sword pulled back over his head and aimed at her. He brought it down in full force, Sakura dodging away at the last second, watching as the sword cleaved into the earth leaving a gaping scar.

He landed and re-launched slashing and swinging his sword faster than she thought was possible. She found, with his attacks intensifying, that she was slowly being pushed away from Naruto.

She grit her teeth again, if that's the way they wanted to play it, then it was time to increase her offensive. She stamped her foot in annoyance; the earth quaked in response, rippling and bulging, making the terrain jagged and uneven.

"Whoa," Suigetsu stumbled to keep his footing, and Sakura surged forward, fist at the ready.

"Suigetsu look out!" The frantic scream came from the red head, and Sakura smiled in triumph just before she felt herself careening away from her target and into the dirt. Pain reverberated through the entire right side of her body and Sakura staggered to stand unsuccessfully, coughing blood in her attempt.

"Kill." Sakura felt herself dragged up by her leg, and the manical laughter of the thing assaulting her rang in her ears.

"Kill!" She felt herself flung into the air.

"KILL!"

The creature was above her slamming both fists into her chest, she felt her ribs bend and give way under the pressure. She saw a glimpse of the assailant as her body hurled back to earth, the sinister, crazed look on his face, and the deformed transformation of the cursed seal.

"Sakura-San!" She couldn't even tell where Lee had screamed from before her body made a crater in the earth, shattering a few more ribs on impact, her leg, and definitely her left arm. Blood dribbled from her lips and she knew there was also a punctured lung, her breathing grew ragged.

"Sakura!" She couldn't understand why Sai sounded so panicked until she realized that the creature was towering over her, his hulking form casting long shadows, enveloping her.

She struggled to move, frantically trying to heal the direst of wounds. His hands slammed down, pushing her deeper into the gravel, and encircled her neck. Through her un-swollen eye she saw the creature's mocking sneer, and his free hand pulled back and shaped itself into her death.

There was no time to think.

"Juugo."

The red of his eyes swirled and spun their hypnotic rhythm and Sakura felt the grip slacken around her neck, then let go all together. Her body, unable to resist gravity, collided heavily with the ground.

There was a moment of wind whispering silence, then a sword being re-sheathed.

"Juugo, get the Kyu-bi container."

Sakura assumed there was a wordless nod involved, but she couldn't tell with her face in the dust. She struggled to push herself up shakily with her good hand.

"I… I won't let you take him."

Sasuke stood, regarding her critically.

"Sasuke-kun, we got company, about seven strong chakras coming this way." The red head stood at the pinnacle of the crater, with the large Juugo at her side and an unconscious Naruto over his shoulder.

"They're coming in fast."

Sasuke nodded once, his eyes still on Sakura before disappearing and reappearing at the crater's precipice.

"Suigetsu, we got what we came for, let's go."

The white haired shinobi appeared on the other side of the crater, "Wha..? I barely got any action in," he made a face somewhat like a pout, "Juugo here stole all my fun."

The white haired nin shouldered the sword and eyed Juugo wistfully, "Though he certainly did a number on her." He whistled at the damage in appreciation, "and she's still alive? Man, she's tougher than she looks."

"You know where the rendezvous is, move out."

Suigetsu's eyes passed from Sakura to Sasuke and a sneer stretched his lips, "Gonna do a little reminiscing? I didn't think you were the type, Sasuke." His eyes travelled to Karin in mocking and she had the grace to look haughtily away.

"Let's go," Juugo's baritone rumbled and he shifted Naruto's weight on his shoulder.

Sasuke's eyes stayed focused on Sakura, as she managed to force her body up through the searing pain to glare at him, and watch with dread as Naruto's body disappeared from her view with the other foreign ninja.

Only Sasuke remained.

All she could do was watch him, returning the intensity with which he seemed to be memorizing her image. Sakura had no illusion of how merciless Sasuke had become, but she wanted so much to plead with him. She wanted to tell him he didn't have to hurt them anymore, that he could come back to Konoha and they could be team seven again. She wanted to cry and embrace him, with Naruto on one side and her on the other and Kakashi watching over them as he always does. She wanted Naruto to call him "Teme," and Sasuke to retort, "loser" and have them fight again the way they did as children.

Her vision began to blur and she saw with devastation, that there was no going back to those days.

"…Sasuke," no sound came from her lips, but she'd never put more passion into anyone thing.

His stoic image flicked and disappeared, vanishing with her own hope. She couldn't sense him anywhere, either of them.

Sakura pushed her body to sit, bracing her back against a sizeable boulder, her own emotion at her failure swirling in conflicted chaos. She sits feeling dejected and weak and useless…and for the first time, sitting in the dust, covered in blood and sweat and drowning in turmoil, she doesn't cry, she can't. Sakura can only sum her emotion into one action, torturous, anguished and unrestrained it rips from her like cascading snow unhinged from its elevated peaks.

And when the others find her, in tatters and alone, knocking her unconscious is all Kakashi can do to make her stop screaming.


End file.
